This invention is concerned with absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinent pads that are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. The present invention is particularly concerned with sanitary napkins having portions that are generally relatively thin and flexible.
Sanitary napkins of a wide variety of shapes and dimensions are currently used by women for the collection of menses and other bodily discharges.
In the past, a number of efforts have been directed at providing sanitary napkins that maintain contact with the wearer's body. One attempt to provide such body contact is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,575 issued May 29, 1956 to Mercer. The Mercer patent discloses a catamenial bandage having a longitudinal hump which bulges towards and may contact the body of the wearer. The catamenial bandage described in the Mercer patent suffers from several disadvantages, however. For instance, the size and shape of the absorbent pad and hump in the Mercer bandage appear to limit the conditions under which the bandage is able to maintain contact with (and conform to) the body of the wearer. The portions of the bandage that lie laterally to the sides of the hump are not thin and flexible. In addition, the hump of the Mercer bandage is made of a cellulosic material, and, as a result, may tend to collapse and become permanently distorted during use.
The current tendency has been to develop sanitary napkins that are increasingly thinner, and thus more comfortable and less obtrusive than prior sanitary napkins. Recently, efforts have been directed at developing thin sanitary napkins which have the capacity to absorb and contain medium to high menstrual discharges. Previously, such discharges could only be handled by relatively thick sanitary napkins. Examples of thin sanitary napkins having capacities great enough to handle medium to high menstrual flows are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,950,264 and 5,009,653, issued to Osborn, III., on Aug. 21, 1990 and Apr. 23, 1991, respectively.
It is also desirable that sanitary napkins, not only maintain contact with, but conform as closely as possible to the wearer's body. Such a body-conforming capability increases the effectiveness of the sanitary napkin by reducing the possibility that menses will travel around the perimeter of the sanitary napkin and leak. There have been a number of recent efforts to provide sanitary napkins and other absorbent articles with improved body-conforming characteristics. In addition to serving as examples of thin sanitary napkins, the sanitary napkins disclosed in the above-mentioned Osborn patents also serve as examples of anatomically-conforming sanitary napkins. While the sanitary napkins disclosed in the Osborn patents work quite well, the search for improved sanitary napkins has continued.
For instance, it is desirable to provide greater absorbent capacity in the target region of a generally thin, flexible, sanitary napkin. It is also desirable to provide better contact between the sanitary napkin and the wearer's body, particularly with the inwardly-facing surfaces of the wearer's labia majora. It is desirable to accomplish these goals while still providing the same level of comfort as a uniformly thin, flexible, pad.
It has been found that the way the sanitary napkin is held in place in the wearer's undergarment has an effect on the ability of the sanitary napkin to maintain contact with the wearer's body. Sanitary napkins are generally fastened to the wearer's undergarments by a pressure sensitive adhesive or other means. The means is stressed when the wearer moves about, because the wearer's undergarments may not move in concert with the body of the wearer, and the sanitary napkin may not flex and twist with the wearer's undergarments. If stressed excessively, the pressure sensitive adhesive, or other means may become detached from the undergarment. If that happens, the sanitary napkin may shift from the desired position and registration with the wearer's vaginal opening. It is, therefore, also desirable to provide the sanitary napkin with a mechanism to accommodate the independence of movement between the body of the wearer and the wearer's undergarment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sanitary napkin which is generally thin and flexible and which is absorbent enough to absorb and contain medium to high menstrual flows.
It is another object of this invention to provide a sanitary napkin which readily intercepts menses when discharged by maintaining contact with and conforming to the shape of the female wearer's body, particularly with the inwardly-facing surfaces of the labia majora.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a generally thin, flexible, sanitary napkin with extra absorbency in the target region which still offers the enhanced fit and comfort and the low degree of wearing awareness of uniformly thin sanitary napkins.
Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide a sanitary napkin with mechanisms to accommodate the independence of movement between the wearer's body and the wearer's undergarments.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.